Railway draft gear

ABSTRACT

A railway draft gear has a housing of box-like shape that is open at its rearward end and is provided with a detachable rear wall for closing the open end. The rear wall is keyed to the housing to anchor the wall against movement rearwardly of the housing. Key stop means is provided on the housing to maintain the keys in place.

United States Patent 1191 Hum] et al.

RAILWAY DRAFT GEAR Inventors: George E. Huml, Chagrin Falls;

Donald Willison, Lyndhurst, both of Ohio Midland-Ross Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio Filed: Jan. 15, 1973 Appl. No.: 323,962

[73] Assignee:

us. or 213/22, 213/32, 213/40 R int. Cl. 861g 9/08, B6lg 9/00 Field of Search 213/22, 32, 24, 40

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES'PATENTS 2,289,348 7/1942 Dath 213/24 Mar. 26, 1974 2,326,288 Dath 213/22 2,903,143 9/1959 Gadbois 213/22 2,953,260 9/1960 Danielson 213/32 R 3,403,790 10/1968 Zanow 213/22 3,554,386 1/1971 LaBelle 213/32 R Primary Examiner-Drayton E. Hoffman [57] ABSTRACT A railway draft gear has a housing of box-like shape that is open at its rearward end and is provided with a detachable rear wall for closing the open end. The rear wall is keyed to the housing to anchor the wall against movement rearwardly of the housing. Key stop means is provided on the housing to maintain the keys in place.

10 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures /6 l I 1 l Es, 1 r k /5 V L 3 /za 3% 4% M if PATENTEBNARZB I974 SHEET 2 BF 2 RAILWAY DRAFT GEAR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Thepresent invention relates to a railway draft gear of the type disclosed in Al... Zanow US Pat. No. 3,403,790 issued Oct. 1, 1968. That patent discloses a housing member of box-like shape, open at its rearward end and having a removable rear wall for closing the open end. The rear wall is held in place by keys having curved ends which are welded to the housing. This method of securing the keys has not proved entirely satisfactory, because in service the forces applied to the keys in many instances have resulted in loosening of the weld and loss of the keys.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION inwardly extending'vertical flange having a forwardly facing abutment surface. The rear plate extends between the walls of the housing and has lateral flanges,

each of which is in opposed forwardly spaced relation to an associated abutment surface on the housing. A straight key of suitable thickness is interposed between each abutment surface and the opposing lateral flange to position the'plate longitudinally of the housing and to preclude rearward movement of the plate relative to the housingrThere is provided at the lower end of each sidewall an integral horizontal shelf that underlies the lower end of the key to limit downward displacement of the key. Upward displacement of the key is limited by a retainer platethat is welded to the top side of each side wall and overlies the upper end of the key. The keys are in this manner effectively retained in place.

It is therefore the main object of the-invention to key a detachable rearwall of a draft gear housing to the FIG. 9 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 99 of FIG. 8.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The draft gear shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has a generally rectangular in section, box-like housing 10 comprising a pair of vertically spaced top and bottom horizontal walls 12 and 14, respectively, and a pair of horizontally spaced vertical side walls 16 joined to said top and bottom walls. The rearward end of housing 10 is open and is closed by a detachable rear wall or plate 18. The forward end of the housing has an opening arranged to reof well known construction comprising rubber or simihousing in such a manner as to prevent displacement of 5 the key from its functioning position within the housing. I

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1. is a plan view partly'in section showing a draft gear embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view partly in section of the draft gear shown in FIG. 1.

9 FIG. 3 is a plan view of the detachable rear plate member of the draft gear housing shown in FIG. 1.-

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the plate shown in F IG.' 3. v

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view in sectional plan of the lower rearward end of the draft gear hous- FIG. 6 is an enlarged plan view of a rearward corner portion of the draft gear housing,

FIG. 7 is an enlarged plan view of one rearward corner of the assembled draft gear with the key in place but with the key retainer plate not applied.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of a rearward corner of the assembled draft gear.

lar material bonded to the side of a metal plate 28. Spring seat 24 and pads 26 are inserted into the housing through the open rear end and upon the application of rear plate 18 thepads are placed under predetermined initial compression. Plate 18 is retained in place by keys 30, as will be hereinafter explained in detail. The usual draft gear pocket for receiving the gear within the car frame has been shown in dot-dash and is formed by spaced longitudinal sills 34 having front draft stops 34a and rear buffing stops 340. A front follower member 36 is interposed between stops 34a and wedge 20. The rear stops 34b are'engaged by rear plate 18. It will be understood that coupler buffing forces are transmitted to the gear through follower 36 causing actuation of the friction clutch and effecting compression of pads 26 against plate 18 which bears against rear stops 34b. Pulling forcesfrom the coupler are transmitted to the gear through the yoke 38 acting against plate 18, as is well known in the art.

Side walls 16 of the housing are each extended rearwardly of the end surface 12a and 14a of top and bottom walls 12 and 14, respectively. The rearward ends of walls 16 are formed with inturned vertical flanges 17 having forwardly'facing abutment surfaces 17a. Also, side wall 16 commencing at a point forwardly of plate 18 is offset outwardly as at 16a to form between flange l7 and offset 16a a vertically extending recess 19 for receiving the lateral flanges 18a on plate 18. It will be observed that body portion 18b of plate 18 has a transverse dimension that is slightly less than the transverse v spacing between opposing flanges 17 of the housing side walls. Closure. plate may therefore be applied to the housing end from the top side of the housing as viewed in FIG. 1 and lowered with forward face 18c of the plate disposed rearward of end surfaces 12a and 14a of the top and bottom walls 12 and 14, respectively, and with flanges 18a received in recesses 19. The vertical dimension"x (FIG. 4) of the forward portion of plate 18 is slightly less than the vertical spacing of thehousing top and bottom walls 12 and 14 to permit movement of the plate forwardly within the housing to the position in which its forward portion is in overlapping relation with those walls, as seen in FIGS. 1, 7, 8 and 9. In this position of plate 18, it is entrapped between the top and bottom walls, thereby assuring that the plate cannot displace downwardly or upwardly out of its assembled position within the housing. It will be noted that flanges 18a of the plate are spaced forwardly of and in opposed relation with surfaces 17a on flanges 17 of the housing. Key 30 which is straight and of suitable rectangular cross section may now be applied from the top side of the housing and forced downwardly between and in engagement with the opposing flanges 17 and 180 as in FIG. 9, to hold the plate in place against pads 26 and preclude rearward displacement of the plate relative to the housing. FIG. 9 shows key 30 in the process of being forced downwardly into place. After key 30 is in place, downward displacement thereof is limited by a shelf 14b which forms a continuation of bottom wall 14 of the housing and underlies the key. The length of the key is such that when it is in place in the housing, its upper end is slightly below the top end surface 16t of each side wall 16. Surface 16! is flat and is positioned at a lower level than the adjacent top surface of top wall 12. After both keys have been applied a retainer plate 40 is welded to surface 16: in such a position as to overlie the upper end of each key, thereby precluding upward displacement of the keys. Plate 40 is preferably of a thickness such that its top surface is flush with, or either slightly below or above, the top surface of wall 12.

To facilitate removal of keys 30 whenever disassembly of the gear becomes necessary, shelf 14b is notched as at 42. A suitable tool may be inserted through notch 42 from the underside of the housing and moved upwardly to force the key out of the housing. It is of course understood that both retainer plates 40 will have been previously detached to permit removal of the keys. Plate 18 and housing are so proportioned I that when the plate is in its final assembled position its rear surface l8r lies in the same plane as, or slightly rearward of, rear surfaces 16s of side walls 16, thereby assuring that buffing forces from the coupler will be transmitted through the cushioning pads to plate 18 and thence directly to rear buffing stops 34b. In this connection it will be seen from FIG. 1 that plate 18 is in engagement with rear stops 34b and a slight clearance exists between rear surfaces 16s of rear walls 16 and stops 34b.

When a draft gear of the type herein disclosed is subjected to an abnormally high buffing load, the gear may go solid, whereby pads 26 are compressed to the point that follower 36 will engage the forward end of housing 10, causing a force of high magnitude to be transmitted through the side walls 16 directly to rear stops 34b. To avoid distortion and possible fracture of flanges 17 due to the cantilever loading applied to them when the draft gear goes solid, the rear surface 16s on each flange 17 has been relieved on its inner side, as at 17r. This relief will significantly reduce the resulting cantilever bending stresses against flanges 17 under the aforesaid condition.

It will be seen that the invention provides a simple and effective means of assuring retention of keys 30 within the draft gear housing.

What is claimed is:

l. A draft gear having a box-like housing open at one end, said housing comprising a pair of vertically spaced horizontal walls and a pair of horizontally spaced vertical walls, a removable closure plate insertable between said walls for closing said housing end, one pair of said walls extending rearwardly of the ends of said other pair of walls, each of the rearwardly extending walls having an intumed flange at its end to provide a forwardly facing abutment surface, said plate having a flange portion at each side thereof adapted to be disposed in opposed spaced relation to said surface when said plate is inserted in said housing end, key means insertable between said surface and said portion to limit rearward movement of said plate relative to the housing, fixed stops means on each of said rearwardly extending walls in opposed relation to one end of said key means to preclude lengthwise movement thereof in one direction and detachable key retainer means on each of said rearwardly extending walls in opposed relation to the other end of said key means to preclude lengthwise movement thereof in the opposite direction.

2. The draft gear of claim 1 in which said fixed means is integral with each of said rearwardly extending walls.

3. The draft gear of claim 1 in which said retainer means is a plate member welded to each of said rearwardly extending walls.

4. The draft gear of claim 2 in which the fixed stop means is notched to permit insertion of a tool for movmeans is at the bottom side of each rearwardly extending vertical wall.

8. The draft gear of claim 6 in which said intumed flange is at the end of each vertical wall and has a forwardly facing vertical abutment surface.

9. The draft gear of claim 6 in which the top side of the end of each vertical wall is disposed a distance below the top surface of the top horizontal wall of the housing equal to about the thickness of said retainer means.

10. In combination a housing for a draft gear, said housing being of box-like configuration and being open at its rearward end, said housing comprising a pair of vertical side walls joined to top and bottom horizontal walls, said side walls being extended rearwardly of the ends of said top and bottom walls, each of said side walls having an intumed vertical flange at its end providing a forwardly facing abutment surface, a vertical end plate extending between said walls for closing the end of said housing, said plate having a lateral flange on each side thereof arranged in spaced opposed relation to said abutment surface, a flat key adapted to be interposed between said abutment surface and said flange on each side of the housing to position said plate in a direction lengthwise-of the housing and preclude rearward movement of said plate relative to the housing, each of said side walls having at its lower rearward end a shelf portion underlying said key, the upper end of each of said side walls having a key retainer plate secured thereto for overlapping the upper end of said key. 

1. A draft gear having a box-like housing open at one end, said housing comprising a pair of vertically spaced horizontal walls and a pair of horizontally spaced vertical walls, a removable closure plate insertable between said walls for closing said housing end, one pair of said walls extending rearwardly of the ends of said other pair of walls, each of the rearwardly extending walls having an inturned flange at its end to provide a forwardly facing abutment surface, said plate having a flange portion at each side thereof adapted to be disposed in opposed spaced relation to said surface when said plate is inserted in said housing end, key means insertable between said surface and said portion to limit rearward movement of said plate relative to the housing, fixed stops means on each of said rearwardly extending walls in opposed relation to one end of said key means to preclude lengthwise movement thereof in one direction and detachable key retainer means on each of said rearwardly extending walls in opposed relation to the other end of said key means to preclude lengthwise movement thereof in the opposite direction.
 2. The draft geAr of claim 1 in which said fixed means is integral with each of said rearwardly extending walls.
 3. The draft gear of claim 1 in which said retainer means is a plate member welded to each of said rearwardly extending walls.
 4. The draft gear of claim 2 in which the fixed stop means is notched to permit insertion of a tool for moving said key lengthwise out of said housing.
 5. The draft gear of claim 3 in which a portion of each of said rearwardly extending walls is relieved so that said plate member is substantially flush with the adjacent portion of the rearwardly extending wall.
 6. The draft gear of claim 1 in which said pair of walls extending rearwardly of the ends of the other pair of walls comprises the vertical walls of the housing.
 7. The draft gear of claim 6 in which said fixed stop means is at the bottom side of each rearwardly extending vertical wall.
 8. The draft gear of claim 6 in which said inturned flange is at the end of each vertical wall and has a forwardly facing vertical abutment surface.
 9. The draft gear of claim 6 in which the top side of the end of each vertical wall is disposed a distance below the top surface of the top horizontal wall of the housing equal to about the thickness of said retainer means.
 10. In combination a housing for a draft gear, said housing being of box-like configuration and being open at its rearward end, said housing comprising a pair of vertical side walls joined to top and bottom horizontal walls, said side walls being extended rearwardly of the ends of said top and bottom walls, each of said side walls having an inturned vertical flange at its end providing a forwardly facing abutment surface, a vertical end plate extending between said walls for closing the end of said housing, said plate having a lateral flange on each side thereof arranged in spaced opposed relation to said abutment surface, a flat key adapted to be interposed between said abutment surface and said flange on each side of the housing to position said plate in a direction lengthwise of the housing and preclude rearward movement of said plate relative to the housing, each of said side walls having at its lower rearward end a shelf portion underlying said key, the upper end of each of said side walls having a key retainer plate secured thereto for overlapping the upper end of said key. 